Often we talk about what supplements you should be taking when you want to get pregnant,
but this video is going to be a little bit different because I'm going to be talking
about which supplements you should be avoiding and which ones you need to be careful with if
you're trying to get pregnant. So that's what this video is all about. Let's get into it.
Before we jump into it, I do want to give a quick shout out to the sponsor of this week's video,
the FertileMind app. It's an amazing resource with tons of useful tools.
If you want the link and it's only for all of you, my members, my followers, then you
can use the link in the description below. Hi, my name is Dr. Marc Sklar, also known
as the fertility expert. I've been working with couples for over 19 years through my
online coaching programs and right here in San Diego at my clinic. And supplements is
always a big topic that we are addressing with those couples that we are supporting. It's an
important conversation. This one's going to be a little bit different because we're going
to talk about the things we need to avoid or the supplements we need to avoid when we're trying to
conceive. So let's jump right into it right now. Before we jump into which supplements I do want
you to avoid, I do want to talk about some key concepts about how to evaluate the supplements
you're taking, what makes the supplement a good supplement or a bad supplement. And so I want
to educate you about how to evaluate this process for yourself because there's so many products out
there by so many brands and it's hard to know which ones are good for you, which ones are
the right ones that you should be choosing. So the first one is brand. How do you know
which is the appropriate brand to choose? Well, sometimes it's about deciding which brands not to
choose and then narrowing it down from there. I often kind of use the example of cars. We might
not always need the Lamborghini or Ferrari of cars, whatever most expensive car you want to
associate with it. But we also don't want to get the cheapest car on the lot because often what's
going to happen is it's not good quality. It's not going to last long. It's not going to get
you to where you want to go. In this case, as we're talking about supplements, it's not going
to give you what you need and it's cheap for a reason. But just like cars, we're looking
for something that's reliable and trustworthy and it's going to do the job that you're looking for.
And so that's where we kind of look in the middle of the range. And two brands, again, coming back
to the car analogy that I think are really ones that we can all associate with in that regard,
are going to be like Toyota and Honda. Okay? They're dependent. They're reliable. They're,
cost wise, in the middle of the range. They will absolutely last for a long time and do
the job. And so we're looking for the same thing when we're looking for supplements.
Now, that might not be the same brand for each product you're looking for because some
companies specialize in certain products and other companies specialize in other products.
But the key concept I want you to digest here is you shouldn't be getting your supplements from
CVS or from Target or Walmart. This is not a good place to get those supplements that you need to
provide the nutrients that you want. That's just them trying to sell another product branded with
their label on it and their brand on it, and it's going to be cheap and it's cheap for a reason. So
we want you to get good quality products that are going to get you what you need and do the job.
So what does this mean? My first recommendation is not to just buy anything over the counter,
okay? That is really important. There are some places where you can buy some supplements and
they're maybe a little bit more trustworthy over the counter, like a good health food store
that you trust might have better brands and have somebody there that you can ask questions to. But
even then, they're just a sales rep and they don't know what you need and they're just telling you
what the person who sold them and asked them to carry the products has told them. So we do want to
make sure that you are getting good trusted brands and buy good quality brands from a reputable store
or location. So that often means not just getting it over the counter. And later on,
I'll give you a couple of resources of where you might be able to grab these. And I did a
whole video on good healthy supplements, good brands, and kind of where to locate
them. And I will post that in the description and I'll talk about it in just a little bit.
I did just briefly talk about quality. I'm going to talk about quality and dosage in the
same point here, is that sometimes you could be taking a good quality supplement, but at a very
low dose or a very high dose, and it's not the right dosage for you, which is also a concern
and something to be careful of. Often those cheap brands have very low, low doses, just enough to
say they can sell the product with that name on it, but it's really not what you need. So those
are also things that we need to be careful of. A great example is some years ago they did a
research study on vitamin D and they took a hundred bottles off the shelf from all over,
very easy for you to get and locate on your own. And they tested those. Over 90% did not have what
they said they had in them. So either they didn't even have vitamin D or they didn't have vitamin
D in the dosage that they said that they had it. That's just one example as to why it's so
important to get a good quality brand, have the right dosage, and have good quality vitamins.
So how do you decide which ones to take? Well, I know many of you either are watching another video
just like this, or you are reading books that say, "Well, if you're trying to get pregnant,
you should be taking X, Y, or Z or all X, Y and Z and then some," right? And that's how we end
up with a bag full of supplements and we just don't know what they do, why we're taking them,
and we're scared to come off of them. And often we also do that and we don't give the
supplements enough time to be effective for what you're looking for them to do.
So this is really why I suggest that you should be getting all of your supplements under the guidance
of a professional, someone who is evaluating your case, looking at your specific labs,
medical history, what your desired outcome is, and coming up with a plan for how they're going to get
you there and support you to get you there so that the supplement plan that you're taking is not just
a generic or supplement plan in this case that anybody can take or that many of you are taking,
but that it's designed for you and your specific needs. And that is such a crucial point when we
are looking at what we're taking and why we're taking them, because that also will
impact the dosages so that you're getting the right dosages to have the right effect
to change or make the changes that you desire. So the first supplement that I'm going to talk
about in lieu of everything that I just mentioned, and this is at the top of my
list of supplements to be careful of and avoid unless you are under the guidance of
a professional who has truly evaluated your case and your hormones and specifically this hormone,
then I want you to be careful with it. And that is DHEA, not to be confused with DHA, which is a
part of a central fatty acid or fish oil, but this is DHEA, which is a hormone. And often when we are
trying to improve egg quality, this is at the top of the list of all the videos you're watching and
all the books that you're reading. It says, "Take DHEA." And often your reproductive endocrinologist
are going to say, "Yes, you should be taking DHEA. Here's DHEA, take 75 milligrams a day."
I want all of you to be very, very careful when someone tells you to do this. If they have not
tested your DHEA levels and determined what those are and do you actually need them and
to what degree you need it or what dosage you need it, then you should not be taking
it. I have a whole video devoted to this specific hormone and supplement, and you can check that out
using the link right here and in the description. The second supplement, in this case also an herb,
that I want you to be careful of is maca. That's right. So many of you are probably taking this
supplement as well and using it in a variety of ways, taking the powder, sprinkling into your
smoothie or using it however you want to. And this is also another supplement that I think we need to
be careful of. I'm not saying it's not a good supplement, and I'm not saying I don't use it,
I do. But taking a general maca supplement means that for many of you women, you are
adding unnecessary androgens or testosterone because the generic maca that you're finding
on the shelves is really geared towards boosting your androgen levels and testosterone because it's
geared towards men. And that is something that I'm not saying you might not need a little bit of
that at times, but that's something that should be done under the guidance of a professional
and something you need to be careful with. So maca is another product that I want you all
to be careful of and not just take on your own. If you are going to take it, then I want to make sure
you take the right kind of maca. There's only one brand that I recommend because they create
a specific maca for every stage that a woman goes through over the course of their hormonal
changes in life. And that is key to getting you the results that you want and using the
appropriate maca or the right maca to influence your hormones, help you regulate your cycles,
and get you the results that you're looking for by using it. So I'm going to post that link for
the maca that I like in the description below so you can check that out later on.
Before we wrap this up, I did mention earlier that I was going to share a video that I created on my
favorite supplements, the ones that I trust, the brands that I like and why and how they can be
beneficial for you. And that video is right here. It's an amazing training. You can see the link in
the description below as well. And I want you all to check it out and really learn from it,
okay? Because it's a very valuable and useful video and training, and so many have already
watched it and told me the exact same thing. So what did you like from this video? What
was helpful and useful for you? Comment below and let me know. Additionally,
what questions you have about your fertility? Leave them down below in the comments and I'll
do my best to get to those as well. If not, by answering them below, I will create a video in
the future answering those questions as well. If you like this video, give me a thumbs up.
If you're not a subscriber to my YouTube channel, you need to be, so hit that bell to subscribe and
get notified when I put out a new video for all of you. And until the next video, stay fertile.